Tale woven through dance

The wholeness of creation is the central thread of "The Living Tree", a dance drama to be presented on March 16 by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance. KAUSALYA SANTHANAM meets its script-writer Lucille Gruber and writes..

"CLEARLY, WE are all of a common breath, with a common bond and from a common creation. However, within this indivisible unity of life, there are still those who see themselves as separate from the Whole. It is this self-centredness that can lead all beings to pain and loss."

The wholeness of creation which is the central thread of "The Living Tree" is brought out beautifully through Lucille Gruber's script.

The dance production will be presented at the Music Academy on March 16 by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance. The CAA is a non- profit association, established in 1991 by Uma Ganesan to promote a deeper awareness and appreciation of India's classical arts among American audiences. In the production choreographed by G. Narendra and with music by V. S. Narasimhan, the theme (narration: Uma Ganesan) is explored through a gamut of dance and music styles - classical, folk, South Indian, North Indian, Western and contemporary.

The idea of the dance drama was suggested by Uma. She was deeply impressed by the book "The Giving Tree" by the American writer Shel Silverstein. Lucille and Uma had worked together on a number of productions in Cleveland, Ohio. Lucille, who was for many years Director of Cultural Arts for Cuyahoga Community College, has organised a wide variety of international programmes in the city.

The multi-cultural dance production "Jungle Book - The Adventures of Mowgli" co-produced by CCA, the Ohio Ballet and the Cuyahoga Community College was an outstanding success. CCA organises workshops and lecture demonstrations regularly.

"When I thought of presenting "The Living Tree", the first person I naturally turned to for writing the script was Lucille. She has a love for all things Indian. And she's an intellectual, someone who can go beyond just dance," says Uma after a rehearsal of "The Living Tree" at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club recently.

"The author of the book "The Giving Tree" died just as we started thinking of doing a production on it," says Lucille. Luckily she stumbled upon a copy of the Indian folk tale "The Mango Tree", which is a similar tale, in a library and the problem of authorship rights was solved.

She is obviously entranced by the manner in which Narendra has choreographed the dance drama and with the way it has been put together by the team of Chennai-based artistes.

"In the story of the girl who is deeply attached to the tree in her village, we had the perfect theme." "The Giving Tree" had a purely environmental message. But we wanted to do something more than the usual dance drama. Uma and her husband started sending me material from the Upanishads."

Lucille who did not have a background in Indian religion, was captivated by the message of the Upanishads. "It was a revelation - the message of human variation. 'Everything is within us. In the lotus of the heart which is a metaphor for the world, is a space within which is contained heaven, earth, fire, wind, whatever is and whatever is not... In that space is the Lord of Love, the soul which all beings share.'

She began to plait together the concepts from the Upanishads with the story. What emerged had a different dimension altogether embracing the totality of the Universe, the interdependence of life and the unique relationship between Man and Nature.

The simple story developed into a moving one with a spectrum of images and concepts. Set in an Indian village, it narrates the bond between a girl and a tree who are separated by the girl's jealous sister-in-law. She gets the girl married to someone far away and rescinds on her promise to care for the tree when the bride leaves.

Neglect of the tree leads to rapid deterioration of her husband's health. The girl returns and saves the tree and her brother and the concept of the unity of life is underlined and celebrated.

Lucille took five months to come up with the script, working for as much as eight hours on certain days.

Having written 45 scripts in her career, Lucille is veteran who knows how to present a theme in the most interesting way. "But I did feel out of my element in this case at one time," she admits frankly. Every now and then, she would consult Uma and her husband ("he is very insightful"). The distance from the team of dancers made it that much more difficult. "We were doing most of the communication by e-mail and fax."

Lucille's love for and understanding of Indian dance helped immensely. Ever since she saw Mrinalini Sarabhai perform in 1982, she has been awe-struck by the Bharatanatyam idiom. The Indian dance performances organised by her have been very well received by both the Indian community and the Americans. Especially successful was the India festival in 1996 featuring 140 events spread out over six weeks. Lectures, theatre, music and dance recitals and other events were held.

Lucille is a trained musician. After graduating from the High School of Music and Art, in New York, she received degrees in music and Fine Arts, from Brandeis University, Boston. She was taught by luminaries such as Arthur Berger and Leonard Bernstein. Lucille has also has a Masters degree in Music Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has taught there. During this time, she became interested in the harpsichord. Her visits to France deepened her interest in the instrument which was very popular in the courts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Lucille says she owes her international outlook to the fact that her parents were born in Eastern Europe. "As someone from outside, you become sensitive to other people's way of looking at things. America has had a very limited way of looking at art. We always looked to Europe in the last century to define it. But you can educate people who have never travelled anywhere about another culture through the performing arts."

Lucille has done this by organising performances in Cleveland by groups from China, Philippines, South America, Taiwan and Korea.

With such a wide angle view, it is natural that the scripts she has written embrace diverse subjects.

When Lucille writes a script, she puts in the maximum and pares it down. "Is this essential? Is there anything in this that touches your heart? Does it have passion and wit? And will it be understood?" are the questions she asks.

The script always has the performance aspect in view. When the curtain goes up on March 16, Lucille will have the satisfaction of seeing her questions answered as the audience responds to a theme that is relevant today than ever before. As the tree thrives and mankind celebrates, the importance of sharing and caring, generosity and family values will be reinforced through the uniting medium of music and dance.

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